


Journey

by bistiles (alis)



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pokemon Fusion, M/M, Stiles and Derek are Pokemon trainers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-08
Updated: 2014-07-08
Packaged: 2018-02-07 23:36:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1918389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alis/pseuds/bistiles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek's the champion of the League and is content in his position. Stiles needs more.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Journey

**Author's Note:**

> This was a prompt sent by stilinskideluxe @Tumblr! Pokemon AUs are my weakness, I HAD TO.

It was quiet inside the gym, night hours bringing it a silence that didn’t exist by day. All the lights were off, except for one light spot centered in the middle of the arena, a perfect round light spot illuminating the pokéball drawn on the gym’s floor.

Stiles was quietly in the dark, next to the gym exit, observing the scene before him. On the light, sat down, was Derek, methodically organizing his pokéballs out of his belt and into a padded box, where he usually leaves them for the night. It was a daily routine for Stiles, Derek knew. Every day, he would take his pokéballs out, check them one by one, and put them on his belt, quietly waiting for the next thirsty Pokémon trainer to challenge him for the spot on the top. By the end of his duties, he would take them out, clean them up and put them in the box. Derek watched Stiles do that many, many times before, over almost one year ever since he finally reached the title of champion league, and many times before, when he was still just a trainer.

Sighing softly, Stiles got closer from Derek, that was still focused on his task. Stiles eyed his storage box: a beautiful metal box with a triskelion engraved on the top. A family heirloom, one that Derek loved with something closer to reverence. After the fire, there wasn’t much left from his family, but the box was proof that the once famous Pokémon trainer family once existed. That they still did, in Derek. He first saw it the day Derek won the Pokémon League, beating his uncle in a gruesome battle. That day, Derek took the box, trembling fingers against the cold metal.

Stiles never saw anyone touch it but Derek ever since.

Stiles stopped beside Derek, close enough to touch. Still, Derek didn’t acknowledge his presence in anyway, but it was fine by Stiles. He knew Derek enough to know that he was completely aware of his presence ever since he stepped into the gym. Stiles was ever so perceptive, but it was something else entirely when it came to Derek. He spent so long trying to understand him that now, now it was just too much.

Derek closed the box with a small click that resonated loudly for some reason and looked up at Stiles, squinting a little. Stiles knew that the strong spotlight was probably hurting Derek’s eyes, but he didn’t move anyway. If Derek was bothered by it, he would move himself. Stiles never really yielded, never really let go and made it easy on Derek, not even now. Stiles thought that maybe someday he would, but he knows better now. Some things just never changes. Rivalry is just one of them.

“I was already going home, Stiles.” Derek said, in that low quiet tone that’s all his.

“I know.” Stiles answered, watching Stiles stand up. He gave a small step back, and thought about offering a hand, but when he decided to do it, Stiles was already up.

Wasn’t it always like that? Wasn’t him always a step forward?

“You could have waited for me at home, there was no need to come all the way here.”

Stiles shrugged, looking as Derek bended down to pick up the box and putting it inside his backpack. It was always so surprising witnessing all the care and love that Derek had for his Pokémons. He grew up from a cocky and arrogant trainer, so very relapse and stubborn into a real Pokémon trainer. Stiles could still remember when Derek just came back into the league, crushing trainers without a second thought, making more enemies than friends. He still remembered Derek as the incompetent trainer that couldn’t control his first Pokémon properly, because he didn’t have the patience for it and was too busy helping climbing the ladder for power to realize his own potential and his own mistakes. Sometimes Stiles wondered if people misjudged him just as hard as Stiles himself misjudged Derek over the years. Most of the time he tried not to think too hard about that.

Derek cracked his back in a careless movement, while Stiles watched him. Took his trademark cap out and slapped it against his thigh, foot tapping rhythmically against the floor.

“So what’s it?”, Derek asked. There’s only one Pokéball still in his belt, there’s always only one left. Derek’s starter, the one that caused him so much trouble over time. The one that consumed Derek with guilty when it lost control and burned down the Hale house. He was fingering the smooth surface of the pokéball and Stiles didn’t even need to know Derek to recognize it as a nervous gesture.

“Do I have to be here for a reason?” Stiles drawled, trying to imitate Derek’s trademark gesture and raising one eyebrow. Derek took the pokéball out of his belt, rolled it in his hands, stalling.

“To come here? Yes.”

That gave Stiles pause, before he reluctantly assented. Only then he realized that ever since he was defeat right here, in this same gym, he never really bothered coming back here, not even to talk do Derek. Outside the gym, it was another story, damn, they even lived together by now, but ever since that crucial day, he never set foot inside the gym.

Stiles stared at Derek. He was never one easy to get, Stiles knew that, but Derek read him like a book, like there was no walls around Stiles hiding the softest parts of him. He never understood how Derek did it – not even Scott really managed that much – , and only that time, Stiles allowed himself to voice his question.

“I don’t know, Stiles.” Derek said, shrugging with only one shoulder, looking so uncomfortable it was painful to look. “I just do.”

Silence enveloped them both, heavy and thick, more of a disturbance between them than peace. Stiles decided that stalling was only making it harder, so he went for the kill.

“I’m leaving Beacon Hills. Going to travel a bit.”

Stiles saw the hesitation in Derek’s eyes. He watched mesmerized as he licked his lips, before pulling his bottom lip between his teeth and worrying it. Derek was very silent at times, but he talked. He wasn’t the unemotional drone someone pegged him for. That was only stalling and cautiousness, things he took a long long time to learn. It was sometimes also peace, calm that he didn’t really have for years after the fire. Never. This time he was though.

“There isn’t much for me here. I already did what I could, I captured all the Pokémons, I’ve been to the top of the League. I need a new challenge.” I need to succeed again, Stiles thought, but didn’t say. He thought that Derek got it anyway.

Derek assented quickly, so fast it looked more like a spasm than a nod. In that silence, Stiles wanted nothing more but for Derek to say something, a curse or a blessing, a plea or a demand. However, that silence, that absence of reaction was driving Stiles mad.

“Are you going to stay?” Stiles asked, without meaning to. Derek blinked in surprise, eyes wide, as if he expected anything but that question. Stiles didn’t really blame him, he never meant to ask. He knew the answer.

“I have to stay.”

“You don’t have to stay, Derek.” Stiles said, heat flaming up his words. “You know you don’t have to, you know Isaac can easily step in and fill in your place. You know he would be one hell of a champion league; hell, Derek, that’s probably want he wants more in his life, after getting into Allison’s pants.”

Derek gave Stiles a small smile. “I know that, Stiles, but…” He lowered his head and fell into silence again.

Stiles got it. He did. That was the reason he never meant to ask, because he knew Beacon Hills was home and leaving home was unimaginable for Derek. He had responsibilities that he took too seriously, a family name to carry, a heavy duty he self-imposed that he couldn’t let go. Stiles always knew that Derek would never come with him. He knew it from the moment he decided to go away and travel the world.

There was the memories of the fire, of his own Pokémon burning everything to the ground. Memories of having Kate’s betrayal, how he managed to drive his Pokémon mad to the point of going berserk. Wounds that were connected to this place but that only could close here.

“I’m leaving tomorrow” Stiles informed and watched as dread settled into Derek’s features.

For a moment, for a brief moment, Stiles almost gave up. He could see the despair in Derek’s eyes, he could see things that were never voiced, only whispered into his skin in the dead of the night. For a moment, Stiles imagined himself giving up and going back to the station, joining the police force or maybe going back to Deaton, into Pokémon research once again. He knew, deep down, that he could find happiness in those places, if he willed himself to.

But Stiles knew, he just did, that resentment would eventually win up. He knew that one day he would wake up and blame Derek for never pursuing his dreams. Stiles was never one to do anything but what he wants to, though he sacrificed himself for those he loved. But it was something to sacrifice his wishes and needs for his dad or Scott.

It was something else to sacrifice who he could be for Derek.

“So… Soon?” Derek said after what felt like forever. Stiles just made a noncommittal sound as an answer.

“Your father?”

“Already properly notified. Not happy, but his going to live.”

Derek paused again. Stiles steeled himself.

“Scott?”

“Coming with me.”

Derek gave a jerky nod, as if he expected that answer – and he did, Stiles knew. Scott would go with him, because Beacon Hills offered them both nothing for growth. They explored and exhausted all the California League. They needed more than that.

Derek walked away, and for a moment, Stiles thought he was leaving, but he didn’t. He just got far enough to take his Pokémon out: a Charizard, strong a powerful. The Pokémon rubbed his massive head against Derek before setting his eyes on Stiles. They stared for a moment, before Stiles averted his eyes.

 

“I’m going to wait for you,” Derek said, voice low and distant, not so much because of the physical distance between them. Stiles looked up, staring.

“What.”

“I’m going to wait for you. I’m still the winner of this League. I’ll wait you to come back,” Derek gave a small, teasing smile that had such a sadness in it that it made Stiles’s chest ache. “To challenge me.”

Stiles laughed, a sudden sound, loud and clear.

“You can bet I will.”

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on Tumblr @killwithmyheart!


End file.
